GS1000 Engine Swap - What to replace?

[SP-GS1000GL]

Hi, first time poster and new GS owner here,

I recently bought a 1981 GS1000GL which looked great but wasn't running. I got it running by cleaning the carbs but when I changed the oil I found two pieces of metal which were identified as pieces of bearing cage. Here's a link to a youtube video which has bad sound but show the pieces: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTL2C6vdHlM

I spoke with the local authorities here and they all agreed that without taking the engine completely apart it would be very difficult to identify which bearings had been affected - crankshaft, something in the drive shaft system, etc. They also suggested that this would be an expensive undertaking

I ended up buying an identical parts bike with 23K kms (14K miles) that has been sitting for about 5 years indoors. The engine is not seized and when I drained the oil there were no pieces of metal in it.

That's the back story.

Now I have the parts bike completely disassembled and I need to figure out what to do to the donor engine before I put it into my riding bike.

Right now I am thinking of cleaning it up, adjusting the valves, doing a compression test and putting it into my riding bike (assuming the compression looks good). From what I hear/read, these engines are generally pretty bulletproof...

What other parts should I inspect or replace before putting the engine back in the bike?

My goal is to have a reliable, riding bike that is not likely to suffer a catastrophic mecahnical failure.

Sorry for the length, I appreciate any suggestions
Thanks in advance

Steve P

[rudy]

Do the valve clearances first. Once they're all good, check your compression. If the compression comes back weird, you could do a leakdown test as well to find out where all your compression is going, but with only 23K on the clock, it can't be that bad. Mine has 43k on the clock and still looks new inside and has great compression and checks out amazing on leakdown test as well.

One thing to keep in mind is that just because you don't have great compression, it doesn't mean your engine is screwed or even has anything wrong with it at all. Over a number of years in storage the rings can get stuck in the grooves and won't let go and seal right until the engine has been run for a bit.

That bearing cage is from a ball bearing. Could be either end of your tranny shafts, or the end bearings from the crank. I can't remember right now if the crank end bearings were roller or ball. Either way, not good to run it without that cage intact as the balls won't be evenly spaced, and you don't want those bits of cage floating around in there anyway.

ANYWAY, they're easy to change yourself if you're up to the task. Just take the bottom end apart and find which one it is that's come to pieces and replace it. It's a good idea to check everything else out while you're in there too.

Rudy

[psyguy]

other than the valve clerances and the compression check, there really isnt anything else that should need atention at such low kms

any possible oil leaks, cam chain rattle, etc, you can only learn about once you have the engine running

good luck

[Nessism]

I'd just put the engine in and get it running before worrying about testing. Testing compression on a cold engine that has sat for a long time will likely come up low anyway. The engine needs to be run some before you know what's going on with the sealing. Valve adjustment would be a good idea of course.